DUSHANBE, October 24, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- Tajikistan’s gold and foreign currency reserves have been halved over the last three months.

Speaking to reporters in Dushanbe on October 23, Sharif Rahimzoda, Chairman of the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT), said that as of October 1, 2008, the gold and foreign currency reserves held by Tajikistan''s central bank have amounted to some 180 million US dollars.  

We will recall that as of July 1, 2008, the country’s gold and foreign reserves had amounted to US$378 million.  

According to the central bank head, reduction of the country’s gold and foreign currency is connected with repayment of debts to the International Monetary Fund, the Deutsche Bank and other payments.  

At the same time, the country’s gold reserve has increased from 371 kilograms as of July 1, 2008 to 561 kilograms, Rahimzoda noted.  

He also noted that money aggregates have amounted to 1.7 billion somoni (equivalent to more than US$500 million) to this date, which is 1 billion somoni more than in the same period of last year.

The central bank head noted that labor migrants had remitted more than 2.1 billion US dollars to Tajik banks since the beginning of this year.  

According to the NBT, inflation for January-September stood at 12.7 percent and it is expected to reach 13 percent by the end of the year.